(Bus number 756,
were in Israel on June 9th-19th)
On one of our most recent
Taglit-Birthright Israel: MAYANOT
trips, we had a bat mitzvah girl in our midst, although she was not the typical
age of twelve or thirteen, we wanted to help her celebrate nonetheless.
Not everyone is lucky enough to celebrate a bat mitzvah but when
participants come with us to Israel we try and make sure everyone has the
opportunity to celebrate.
This is the amazing speech Lauren Messano, from Westchester NY, gave as she was
standing on Masada being Bat Mitzvahed,
“Growing up half Jewish and half
Catholic and not very religious it was difficult to figure out my identity
through religion. My parents told me it was up to me whether I wanted to go to
CCD or Hebrew school as long I was happy. We would still celebrate the high
holidays. However I never really knew what either of them truly meant. It
seemed as if I was making a choice between my mom and dad in
"choosing" what religion I would practice. I didn't want to make the
other parent feel bad if I didn't choose theirs. I started Hebrew school for 2
months but with the stress of thinking my dad was mad at me for not choosing to
be catholic and starting as a late bloomer attending Hebrew school and having
so much work to catch up on in Hebrew school I decided it wasn't for me. Now
being on this trip with all of you all I realize it never had to be a choice.
The answer was always deep within in me it just took all of you guys and this
beautiful country of Israel to connect with Judaism. Today being at the Masada
and being able to consider myself a woman and have you all here to celebrate is
an honor. I have learned so much and know this is just the beginning of my
connection to my Jewish roots and am hopeful and excited for what is to come.
I'm so happy to have met you all and thank birthright for this opportunity to
find myself as well as a new Jewish family in which we all share this special
bond from our journey these past 10 days. Even though we might not all be in
the holy land of Israel together again, I will always cherish these memories
and friendships made and hope we cross paths again”.